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Kroenke unveils Los Angeles stadium plans

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has gone public with new Los Angeles stadium plans at Inglewood’s Hollywood Park and will present it to his fellow owners, as the race for a LA team intensifies.

Kroenke has not been shy about his plan for a new $1.86-million as part of a Hollywood Park transformation into a mixed-use entertainment and sports complex, but the specifics have not been discussed before. With the NFL owners meetings set for this week, Kroenke discussed his plans, bringing in architect HKS to review the stadium plans with the Los Angeles Times. HKS has been active on the NFL stadium front, most recently designing the new Minnesota Vikings stadium, with AT&T Stadium and Lucas Oil Stadium in the firm’s portfolio.

The proposed design is for a covered stadium, but not an enclosed one, with a roof covering the playing field, seating and accompanying plaza, allowing breezes to flow throughout. From the Times:

The roof has metal borders, but the area over the playing field is made of a transparent material called ETFE, which is as clear as a car windshield and strong enough to support the weight of a vehicle. The design allows for breezes to flow through the building, enhancing the outdoor feel.

“This stadium grows out of the DNA of the region,” said Mark Williams, director of sports and entertainment business development for HKS…

While the roof of the Inglewood stadium would be 275 feet above the playing field, the building would be set into the ground, giving it an above-ground profile of 175 feet, considerably lower than most enclosed stadiums. The proposed venue conforms to the height restrictions imposed on buildings within close proximity to Los Angeles International Airport, and the stadium designers say it also makes for a more attractive neighbor.

It’s a unique design, to be sure. If approved by NFL owners — three-quarters majority needed, but a vote probably won’t happen until this fall at the earliest, as San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland are still working on stadium plans — then we could possibly see a stadium in the 2019 season, after a three-year construction process. Though the plan is for a single team to inhabit the stadium, it’s being designed accommodate two, with multiple locker rooms and storage facilities.

Besides hosting all sorts of big events — like Final Fours, Super Bowls and potentially a college bowl game — the stadium has a unique feature that could bring in all sorts of revenue: ads can be projected onto the unique roof. The location so close to Los Angeles International Airport was originally seen as a liability; HKS turned the liability into the plus with this unique capability:

Why does a Southern California stadium need a roof? Aside from the fact an enclosed venue can play host to a wider range of events, a covering gives Kroenke the ability to create the world’s biggest billboard, one visible to the more than 35 million travelers who fly into and out of L.A. each year. Images or animations could be projected onto the roof, instead of being permanent fixtures.